Midday Moon
by HarkinScriptores
Summary: Twilight...from Jasper's point of view. Begins when Bella first sees the Cullen family. Rated 'T' for safety. ON HIATUS.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N** We're back with a new fanfiction, our first for this account so, yay! This is called Midday Moon just because we were toying around with ideas and I found this one hilarious and appropriate… so without further ado, here is the first chapter (written by Emily) of _Midday Moon._

**Disclaimer:** We do not own Twilight or anything to do with Twilight. What we own are DVDs and books and posters and… well stuff.

**XXX**

'Ready for another boring day?' Rosalie asked Emmett.

'Always ready,' he replied with a wink, making Edward groan, which quickly turned into laugh. 'What? Just 'cause you're not getting any,' Emmett responded.

'You know Em, not everything is about sex,' Rosalie sighed.

'Well then what was he laughing at?'

'Jasper had something interesting to say on the matter,' Edward answered.

'Oh did he?' Emmett turned to challenge me.

'You sure you want to start something? I seem to remember it didn't go too well for you last night,' I grinned.

'Shut up,' he snapped, quickly jumping out of the car and slamming the door behind him. Poor Emmett, he was still sore after losing to me in a wrestling match last night. Rose rolled her eyes, pulling her Gucci shades down from her head.

Rosalie was easily the most talked about girl in Forks High, not my kind of girl but I could see the appeal. After Rose came my little dark pixie, Alice, then us three guys, Emmett, everyone's favourite singleton Edward, and me, Jasper Hale.

Another boring day indeed… Little did any of us know that this 'boring' old day in school would change our lives forever. Rosalie would no longer be the most talked about girl and Edward would no longer be anyone's favourite singleton, in fact, he would no longer be a singleton at all. It only took one mere human girl to change it all: Isabella Marie Swan.

On entering the dinner hall I realised it was a good thing no humans sat near us because I was very thirsty; very dangerous. Despite this I noticed Edward's shift in feelings before anyone else did even though he had stopped engaging in our conversation. I looked at him to find his focus on the new girl. So far, between the five of us, we'd found out a few things about her: she was strictly Bella, not Isabella, she was from Arizona but very pale and she had bad hand-eye coordination as Mike Newton had discovered in volley ball much to Edward's amusement. Oh and speaking of Edward, like every other girl in Forks she had been instantly attracted to Edward.

But that didn't concern me. What concerned me was the fact that her scent, as she looked our way, hit me like a battering ram. The absurdly potent smell of her blood was like heroin to an addict and made me feel a dry ache in my throat, a hollow yearn in my stomach. My muscles automatically tightened and venom excessively began to flow from my mouth. This was quite normal, and usually easy to ignore but it wasn't helped by the fact that I knew Edward, unusually, felt the same and so my reaction doubled. I was letting my imagination run wild; I began picturing myself moving from the table and sinking my teeth into her warm, pale neck. Edward must have heard my thoughts as he kicked my chair which knocked me right out of my fantasy. I met his gaze for a minute and then looked down, ashamed of myself.

'Sorry,' I muttered. Edward shrugged.

'You weren't going to do anything,' Alice said soothingly, holding my hand. I fought back my grimace. God I was thirsty. I would have to hunt tonight, my eyes were ridiculously black. I needed to learn to accept my limitations; we were toying with fire and bound to get burnt if we continued. I was not going to be the one to expose us.

I let Alice calm me down and soon we were conversing normally which left Edward to return his focus to Bella Swan.

'You got yourself a new admirer bro,' Emmett hissed across the table at Edward who half turned around, greeting him with a spectacular scowl. Smirking, obviously quite pleased with himself Emmett leaned back in his chair, all of us now completely aware of Bella Swan's gaze upon us, or more specifically, upon Edward who was not helping matters by staring back. Apparently this made her feel awkward and she dropped his gaze, returning her attention to Jessica Stanley, one of Edward's latest rejects. Her jealousy radiated across the hall to me, she'd clearly noticed Edward and Bella's 'moment'. Edward had a slightly frustrated expression on his face which I now know was the start of everything.

Apparently, Jessica was giving Bella the low-down on the elusive Cullen family.

'I hope she's making it good?' Emmett wondered aloud.

'Not particularly, rather unimaginative really. Just the barest hint of scandal. Not an ounce of horror. I'm a little disappointed.'

'What about the new girl?' I asked in what Alice described as my 'attractive southern drawl', making her smile, 'Is she disappointed in the gossip as well?'

Edward concentrated on her thoughts. He was sort of our look-out; he came in very handy when he, Emmett and I decided to test the speeds on our cars where the cops were concerned. He locked eyes with her again as she turned around and a strong sense of unease wafted from his direction. I looked at him questioningly but he said nothing. I nudged Alice and inclined my head towards him. We got up to leave and I pulled Edward's arm to make him follow, ignoring Emmett's questions as he too followed behind with Rosalie.

'What's up with your face?' Rosalie asked once outside, insensitive as per usual. I frowned at my sister, hoping she'd get the message and shut up but she didn't. 'Well?' she prodded.

'I don't like her,' Edward replied dismissively, clearly not wanting to talk.

'Who, the new girl?' She just did not know when to drop something.

'No, Rosalie, Mike Newton.' Rose growled.

'Alright ladies, calm down,' Emmett chuckled, putting his arm around Rose, earning himself a death stare from Edward. 'Lunch is over, we should go.' He led Rosalie off, back towards the school building.

'Coming?' I turned to Alice who appeared to be in a trance. 'Alice, what do you see?' I rushed to hold her arm, immediately recognising she was having a vision.

'I-' she started tentatively, taking a look at Edward who obviously heard her thoughts and let out an animalistic growl before stalking off to biology, leaving me and Alice alone. 'It's nothing. I'll explain later,' she added when I looked unconvinced. Satisfied, I walked her to Psychology (she loved the irony of it) and headed for History where we were currently studying the American Civil War. My _favourite _topic.

**XXX**

**A/N **I hope you enjoyed that. Next chapter will be written by me… yeah. Please R&R.


	2. Chapter 2

I tuned out from the monotonous voice of the alcoholic man trying to teach me about the Civil War. He was currently explaining the assignment for the week- something that had been written on the board the entire period whilst I listened to his pulse.

I shook myself before anyone could notice the venom pool in my mouth had begun to overflow. I needed to hunt. Badly. "How long do you want the assignment to be?'

The human half-jumped startled by my voice. I got the feeling he had been completely in his own world. "At least four thousand words, Mr Hale."

The class groaned.

Alice was waiting for me when I left the room. She looked tense.

"I've been bombarded by visions all period. Edward's been planning on how best to suck the Swan girl's blood."

"I'll cover him. If he lets me have an arm."

She hit me, hard. "_Jasper!_ We can't let him do this. He'd hate himself; us, everyone and you know it."

"Alice calm down. Nothing's going to happen right now."

"How do you know? He could be sucking her blood right now in a class room of dead students and their teacher."

My throat burned as the image floated into my mind. It's better to feed from a live human but I was past being picky. "I know because our dear brother is coming towards us now."

If I had looked dangerous before it was nothing to how Edward looked now. His eyes were the blackest I had ever seen them (or anyone else's for that matter) and his lips were pulled back into a snarl giving his face a feral appearance. My brother looked completely homicidal. "Where are _you _going?"

He growled something about biology before stalking past the pair of us heading towards the office. "This isn't going to be pretty," I whispered as Bella Swan followed behind him.

"Calm him down Jasper!"

I frowned sullenly. "If I do, he will kill me. We all promised not to abuse our powers."

"This is not abuse of out powers Jasper Hale!"

As Alice grumbled, Rosalie came silently up behind us; the pout she was displaying caused a wave of excitement to rush in my direction as the poor human boys of Forks High hoped she had had a nasty argument with Emmett. "He hasn't killed her yet?"

"Rose!"

"What? The sooner he does it, the sooner we can move on."

"I like it here, Rosalie. I like staying in the same place for a while."

Rose rolled her eyes at Alice who simply sighed. "Well, he is going to kill her sooner or later anyway. It's just going to cause us problems whatever way you look at it. If he won't get rid of her, I will."

I snorted. "Someone's jealous she's not the centre of attention." I dodged as a perfectly manicured slap came in my direction. "Touchy, touchy."

"Stop it, both of you."

"We should wait in the car, it won't be long." I reasoned, relieved to find my siblings were following me out to the parking lot.

Emmett was waiting for us when we reached the Volvo, smirking at me as he cracked his knuckles. "Ready for a rematch, brother?"

I rolled my eyes testily. "I won fair and square, Emmett. Besides, I'm not in the mood."

"You're just worried I am going to beat you, like I would've done last night."

"Emmett! Give up would you?" Rose snapped, opening the door to Edward's car.

I slid silently into the car, leaving room for Alice as I tried to tune out Emmett's incessant moaning. She patted my knee before twisting to catch a glimpse of Edward storming towards us at anything but human speed.

Edward climbed into the car, gasping for air as if he had just escaped suffocation.

"Edward?" Alice's voice was laced with alarm as she spoke; it was clearly taking every ounce of her being to keep from shaking our brother for answers.

He didn't answer. Instead he just shook his head, ignoring the rest of us as he caught sight of Alice in the mirror. It was obvious they were having a silent conversation.

"What the Hell happened to you?" Emmett demanded, thankfully distracted at least from the moment from the rematch he was craving.

Again, Edward didn't answer he simply threw the car into reverse, swinging the car round before accelerating out of the parking lot as if some invisible demon was chasing him. By the time we reached the first corner of the road he had the car travelling at seventy. It wasn't surprising, if Edward was nothing else, the boy was a speed demon.

I turned to look at Alice, unsurprised to find I was not the only one doing so. She shrugged, ignoring anyone but Edward. I fought back a growl; the silence was beginning to irritate me beyond reason.

"You're leaving?" she whispered.

My head snapped in Edward's direction. _What?_ I thought irritably, knowing he was bound to ignore me.

"Am I?" He hissed. I was lost; whatever those two were seeing they weren't explaining it very well.

"Oh."

Edward's dark eyes met mine for a moment before returning to the road.

"Oh," Alice said again.

"Stop!" Edward groaned.

"Sorry," the little raven-haired pixie beside me whispered. Her eyes were wider than I had seen them in a long time. Clearly the vision had shaken even her. "I'll miss you. No matter how short a time you're gone."

I noticed Emmett and Rosalie exchange an apprehensive glance as we reached the turn off for the long drive to our house.

"Drop us here," Alice instructed. I looked at her in confusion. "You should tell Carlisle yourself."

As Edward nodded he brought the car to a sudden, squealing stop, allowing myself, Emmett and Rosalie to get out silently. I looked at Alice expectantly. She was going to explain this to us as soon as Edward was gone.

She ignored me and touched our brother's shoulder. "You will do the right thing," she murmured. Her words came out as a direct order rather than as a vision. "She's Charlie Swan's only family. It would kill him too."

"Yes." It was clear, even to me, that Edward was only agreeing with the last part of Alice's statement.

She sighed and slid out to join the rest of us, her eyebrows pulled together in anxiety. She caught my hand and dragged me into the woods, Emmett and Rosalie close on our heels, before Edward even had time to turn the car around.

Alice huffed as I stopped abruptly just outside the house. "What's going on?"

She smiled sweetly, attempting to reach my height as she balanced on the tips of her toes, moving in for a kiss I rejected harshly. "I'm serious, Alice."

She settled for kissing my cheek. "Inside."

**XXX**

**A/N **_**Hi, that was my chapter (Kim) If you can't tell who's written it, the parts by me will be the ones that ramble a bit because I'm not very good at writing in first person, furthermore, my chapters will be all the even numbered ones. Please R&R tell us if you loved it or hated it… Thanks for reading.**_


	3. Chapter 3

**XXX**

Alice sat on our comfortable, but unnecessary bed, holding her head. I kneeled in front of her, holding her hands in mine.

'What's happening, Alice?'

'I- Hang on, I can't… My head is full of them.'

'Full of what? Alice, talk to me!' As much as I wanted to know what was going I hated seeing my wife in distress.

'Visions from Edward. They're flashing from dark to light like a, well, like a strobe light.'

'What's he doing?' Alice said nothing, but put her head in her hands. I got up and sat next to her on the bed, gently pulling her close to me.

'I don't know,' she whispered, looking genuinely scared for the first time since… actually, what I felt was the emotions from everybody I'd killed working for Maria in my much-regrettable past. 'I really don't know what he'll do.'

Six days passed before my somewhat masochistic brother returned; he'd been hiding in the empty wilderness in Denali apparently, because obviously that was the preferable option to talking the 'issue' through with Carlisle. We sat in the living room (ironic really) watching television like nothing had happened. The atmosphere was awkward but somehow it felt wrong for me to change it.

'Tanya came on to you?'

'Alice! Do you have to do that?' Edward groaned. Esme looked at her adopted son questioningly. 'I turned her down,' he said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

'You turned her down?' Emmett asked in utter disbelief. 'As in _Tanya_? As in-' he proceeded to make curvy motions with his hands. '_That _Tanya?'

'Emmet!' Rose shouted disapprovingly from the doorframe.

'What? She's hot!' he shrugged, defending himself in a way that only Emmett could. His chosen form of defence was met with a rather expensive vase. To his head. Rosalie stormed out and Emmett turned back to the television, only to be elbowed by Alice.

'What?'

'Go after her Emmett.' He groaned, evidently not seeing why he should bother. 'Before she smashes up your car, maybe?' she added.

'Shit,' he muttered, practically flying after her. 'Rose! Rose baby, come on I didn't…'

Alice, Edward and I walked into the cafeteria for our non-existent lunch the next day to find Rose and Emmett already sat at our table, snuggled up to each other like a pair of pathetic love-stricken teenagers.

'Because it isn't enough that they spent all night loudly 'making up',' I mumbled to Alice. It appears Emmett heard because he snickered in our direction, winking at me as he annoyingly did so. However, Alice wasn't listening; her eyes had become unfocused and it was clear that she needed help standing up. I put one hand lightly under her elbow and guided her forward to the table. Emmett immediately took on his 'bodyguard' form, checking out for any humans listening in or watching and while Rose looked wary too, it was more irritated than protected. Typical Rosalie.

As it turned out, she wasn't having a vision, only worried about Edward's reaction to Bella Swan.

'It's going to be okay,' she mumbled.

'Of course it is,' Edward grumbled back. I felt he was annoyed with us; we probably deserved it mind, after Emmett and I throwing constant streams of slush balls at him this morning until we got bored with his lack of response. Out shift from normal, playful even, to what he viewed as 'overdone vigilance' was irritating him greatly.

Alice finally came back to normal focus and agreed with Edward that everything would be okay. I felt a sudden sense of sympathy waft my way from Edward; sympathy for me. He was remembering all the times they'd been over protective of me. I met his glance and briefly grinned. Annoying, isn't it? He grimaced at me. Edward zoned out of our small talk and began scanning the room, listening for any thoughts about us strange Cullens.

'Anything new?' I asked him.

'Nothing. She … must not have said anything.' We all raised our eyebrows at this news.

'Maybe you're not as scary as you think you are,' Emmet chuckled. 'I bet I could have frightened her better than that.' Edward rolled his eyes. 'Wonder why…?' He continued puzzling over my revelation about the girl's unique silence; Edward could not hear her thoughts.

'We've been over that. I don't know.' Edward clearly did not want to continue with this topic of conversation. Alas he had no choice.

'She's coming in, try to look human,' Alice murmured.

'Human, you say?' Emmet asked. He had his infamous mischievous look on his face and held up his fist to reveal a still frozen block of ice; we all knew where this was going.

He had his eyes on me but hurled the ice at Alice who flicked it away with a casual flutter of her fingers. The ice ricocheted across the cafeteria and shattered with a sharp crack against the wall. The brick cracked too. Alice had flicked the ice far too fast for human eyes to notice and so although everyone turned to look at the damaged wall, no one looked in our direction.

'Very human, Emmett,' Rosalie said scathingly. 'Why don't you punch through the wall while you're at it?'

'It would look more impressive if you did it, baby.' Rose scoffed and turned to engage Alice and I in what was bound to be more intelligent conversation, leaving Edward to stare at the Swan girl and Emmett thinking about his next inappropriate move.

Alice elbowed Edward, corresponding with him mentally. He visibly clenched his teeth.

'Ease up, Edward,' Emmett said. 'Honestly. So you kill one human. That's hardly the end of the world.'

'You would know,' he murmured.

Emmett laughed. 'You've got to learn to get over things. Like I do. Eternity is a long time to wallow in guilt.'

Alice cleverly responded by hurling a piece of ice she'd been keeping into Emmett's unsuspecting face. He blinked surprised, then grinned.

'You've asked for it,' he said, leaning across the table and shook his ice-encrusted hair in her direction.

'Ew,' Rose complained as melted ice flew everywhere. Alice held up her tray as a shield but I realised that Bella Swan must be staring at us, something which would definitely not help Edward's situation so I expelled waves of calm towards them. They all scowled at me but I didn't respond; it was for the best.

When the lunch period ended, we stayed in our seats, unsure of our next move. Bella and Jessica had been talking, not very quietly, about us, or Edward at least, so it was probably best if we let them leave first.

'I… think it's okay,' Alice said, hesitant. 'Your mind is set; I think you'll make it through the hour.'

'Why push it Edward?' I interjected. Although I didn't want to feel smug that my brother was weaker than me now I couldn't help it. 'Go home, take it slow.' My family started up an argument with Emmett who didn't see what the big deal was. I sat out of this one, letting Rose handle it. She was making her views on moving quite clear. Edward took a deep breath, not that he needed to, and strode away from us, heading to class.

Alice's face was scrunched up with worry.

'He'll be fine,' I said rubbing her back soothingly.

'Come on Emmett,' Rose picked up her way-too-expensive handbag, put it gracefully over her shoulder and took Emmett's hand to drag him to their next lesson, leaving us alone. I can't say I'm proud of my next move, but I'm only a guy after all.

'You know, there's nobody home,' I started suggestively. Alice looked at me curiously but I just shrugged. When she didn't say anything I smiled at her, knowing she couldn't resist my smile.

'Typical!' she huffed. My smile widened. 'Fine.' she gave in, shouldering me in the chest - she couldn't reach my shoulder - and made off towards the car. I didn't need any encouragement to follow.

**XXX**

**A/N **That wonderful chapter comes from Emily and the previous author's note comes from her lovely cat…Crystal (I hope that's how you spell it?) Please R&R guys?


	4. Chapter 4

Alice and I returned to the school, just in time for the bell to ring, ordering everyone to next period. My little pixie laughed quietly as I kissed her neck before making my way to class, ignoring the curious stares of my school mates. Some of the girls were glaring daggers into my wife's back, clearly unaware that if I was to get that close to _their _necks it wouldn't be to kiss them.

I was grateful none of them wanted me quite so much as they wanted my brother, I was too…how did they tend to put it?_ Stern_-looking. But, despite the fear they rightly felt when I caught them staring at me they simply perceived me as _damaged goods_. They blamed the fact that I talked to no one on my adoptive family; the most secretive in all of Forks, every one of them hoped they would be the lucky one to break through my shell and have me fall in love with them.

I groaned softly to myself before continuing on my way to class, ignoring the hundreds of eyes fixated on my retreating back. I had been in such a good mood, now I was just hungry, desperately thirsty…all it would take would be to convince one of the girls lining the corridor to come have a chat with me; I could pretend I was lonely, maybe Alice had upset me, I just had to appeal to their caring sides and they would come more than willingly, naïve in their hope that they were the one I had chosen. Maybe I would brush their hair from their face, lean in close to their necks on the pretence of smelling their perfume, they couldn't know I could smell it from a mile away, and sink my teeth in…

_No!_

Venom was flooding my mouth, too much of it to easily swallow down. I grimaced, turning into the classroom. I'd have to hold my breath for the hour or it would be too much to bear, better to deal with no sense of smell for an hour than be responsible for the murder of an entire school.

*x*

The following day it was a quiet ride to school. Alice was clearly deeply upset about something and Edward seemed even more on edge than usual. I kept my mouth shut, certain they would tell me what was wrong when they were ready, it wouldn't be fair to force them to talk about it. Emmett and Rosalie were having one of their sickeningly loved up days…Early that morning the rest of the family had looked at me accusingly, as if I had decided to influence their emotions despite the fact that using my powers was something I tried never to do to my family if I could help it. The three of us with powers had all agreed to this.

Edward was having self-pitying thoughts again; his body language gave him away to the rest of us so often that I was beginning to become quite concerned. If the Swan girl was putting my family in danger I would kill her. As I planned away to rid us of the girl, quietly of course, with no way to trace the unfortunate accident back to the Cullen family and preferably no blood, the car pulled to a stop. I glanced in Alice's general direction, she didn't look at me so I made my way slowly to class with Emmett and Rose, both of whom were still staring stupidly into one another's eyes. Truly sickening but I supposed they felt the same when Alice and I were having similar moments of adoration. I made a mental note to keep dreamy stares to a minimum in future, for everyone's sake. It was as I was about half way up the steps that I heard Alice gasp, loud enough to grab my attention, loud enough for a human to have heard it.

"No."

I turned filled with concern at the volume of sheer terror in my wife's voice. Instead of seeing my brother next to the Swan girl, his teeth sinking into the soft flesh of her neck, I saw a truck; it was completely out of control, flying towards the Swan girl that had become so central to my family's life in the past few weeks. There was no way the driver would miss her, he couldn't miss her-the vehicle had started on a course that no mere human could stop.

No mere human…

I groaned inwardly, it took one look at Edward to confirm my new worst fear. The stupid child was going to expose us all, for the very same human he had so desperately wanted to kill so recently. I tried to tear my eyes from the scene but my muscles refused to move, I was rooted to spot by absolute terror.

Edward was moving too fast for human eyes to see, but as I watched I narrowed my eyes; even if he succeeded in saving her we would have to move, Emmett, Rose and I were so close to being free from high school. If we moved we'd have to start over, another new school, recycled rumours and, possibly, as previously experienced in Alaska, Edward stalkers.

I growled softly as Edward grabbed the girl by the waist, in less than a second the truck had crashed into the space her body had occupied only moments before and, as Edward crashed to the ground, I heard her skull make a slight cracking noise as it hit the ice. He had pulled her to safety, there was no danger of him being caught now; no one could have noticed him. I slowly took in air, unaware that I had been holding my breath as the seconds ticked by. There was a grating sound as the truck changed course, swinging back into Edward's path…was the girl a magnet for danger?

I heard Edward swear and, despite the frantic desperation that was crushing my head, I fought back a chuckle. I was sure my brother had never used such an expletive in the presence of lady. Even as I did so Edward had dropped the girl to the floor and caught the truck, hurling him into a nearby parked car. The frame began to buckle with such a noise that it was deafening to me though I doubted any of the humans around us could hear it. The battered truck shuddered, shivered even before stilling unable to move past the solid barrier created by Edward's arms.

I closed my eyes for a few seconds; the damage had been done I realised, the Swan girl couldn't possibly remain ignorant of Edward's condition given the evidence he had so carelessly displayed. I turned in disgust as I heard the fool ask the girl if she was okay; still more concerned by her state than the unwanted attention he had just put on himself and his family. I hated him in that moment; even from the distance I was I could feel the relief radiating from him, relief still mixed with concern and none of it for his family. I growled and hissed loud enough for the humans around me to look at me curiously; some even took a step back. What did I care; I wasn't the one who had just displayed my clearly inhuman characteristics to over a hundred witnesses. Good job, Eddie.

I didn't even hold back my thoughts as I reached the scene, Edward should know what an idiot he had been and I was unreasonably happy to note that Rosalie especially shared my feelings. Between Rose and me, Edward was in for rather a tough night.

Alice sighed as she realised what was ahead for her beloved brother, looking at me reproachfully. I was beyond caring at that point, as much as I loved them both sometimes Alice and Edward really irritated me in the level-headedness. They were always too composed and sure of themselves…Stupid mind readers…stupid seers.

**XXX**

**A/N **Well I, I being me, Kim, yeah, suddenly got inspiration to start another chapter of this one…I really hope you enjoyed it…Okay, please review, please? Don't upset the Edward stalkers…


	5. Chapter 5

Esme sensed the tension between the five of us upon our entering the house, however, she didn't ask about it until Carlisle returned from his afternoon/evening shift at the hospital.

We were all wandering aimlessly around the house, none of us talking to each other except, maybe, Alice and The Idiot (as I now liked to call Edward) - we had no way of telling unless they were right in front of us with their body language visible - when Carlisle requested our presence in is rather large, well furnished study. All of us.

'Oh great,' I thought to myself, 'This was going to be fun.' I knew Edward heard this and ignored his grimace as we arranged ourselves at odd angles inside the room, none of us quite wanting to look at each other.

This did not put our father figure off tackling the situation.

'What has happened?' he asked calmly, as if enquiring what we would like for dinner, had we been human. Not one of us answered, instead choosing to glare incriminatingly at Edward. Finally, Rosalie piped up, in the oh-so-insensitive way that only Rosalie could manage at a time like this.

'He's turned into an idiot, that's what has happened,' she spat, inclining her golden head towards our brother. He was staring firmly at the floor and, if he could have, I'm sure he would have been blushing - I know I would have been, but then I like to think I wouldn't have been so stupid as to do what he did in the first place.

'Edward?' Carlisle probed, still ever so calm.

'I saved a girl from dying,' he muttered simply, like it were an every day occurrence.

'Be that as it may be, Edward, but you still nearly outed us to the entire town, for all we know you have, and you more than definitely showed that damn girl exactly what we are!' Rosalie screeched hysterically, visibly shaking with anger.

'She has no idea what we are, Rosalie,' Edward unwisely retorted. He obviously hadn't quite learnt the art of not arguing back with a female, especially Rosalie.

'Well she knows we're not human!' my sister all but pierced everyone's ear drums.

'Is this true?' Carlisle asked Edward, now irritatingly calmly. Although I didn't want to follow Rosalie's footsteps and shout at my brother, I was fuming and could not understand for one second how our father, for all intents and purposes, could be so calm about this. Edward acted as though he hadn't heard him and continued to stare at his feet. 'Alice?' Carlisle now turned to my wife in hope of an answer. She shuffled uncomfortably, causing me to instinctively move closer to her side, so she could feel my arm against hers.

'I wouldn't have put it quite like Rosalie but, yes, that is essentially what happened,' she replied, giving Edward an apologetic look when he raised his head to meet her eyes.

Rose opened her mouth, taking an unnecessary deep breath, evidently gearing herself up to continue her verbal attack on Edward but Esme stopped her.

'No, Rosalie, that's enough,' she stated firmly. Rose's mouth audibly snapped shut and she resigned herself to alternating between glaring at Esme and Edward.

Carlisle motioned with his hand for Edward to follow him. Although it was left unsaid, it was obvious that Carlisle wished to speak with Edward alone and away from where we could all hear. Edward followed him and they flitted out of the house towards the forest leaving the rest of us dawdling out of the study.

X-X-X

It turned out that Carlisle had been the doctor to attend to the Swan girl at the hospital and was more than a little alarmed, inwardly, on hearing her version of events and so wanted to hear ours. Despite telling us this, none of us were to ever find out what was said between the two of them when they left.

We all sat in the living room for a while, later on that evening, pretending to watch television, normal conversation pretty much out of the question.

'What is it with the Swan girl, Ed? I mean, come on, she's not exactly a calendar girl, she's practically albino!' Typical Emmett tact.

'It doesn't matter,' Edward grunted, his vision now completely focused on the soccer game in front of us.

'He has a point, Em, pretty or not she doesn't matter now because we have to get rid of her,' Rose mused.

'That is not what I meant, Rosalie!' Edward growled, turning on her, baring his teeth causing Rose to look slightly taken aback.

I immediately felt the tension rising from everyone in the room.

'Edward,' you can't seriously be thinking that we're going to just let her live! Not now!' Rosalie retaliated, just as menacingly.

'I went to the hospital and told her to keep away from me, from us. If she has any sense, she'll heed my warning,' Edward said, calming slightly, apparently under the illusion that we'd be okay with this.

'That's not good enough!' Rose practically screamed, looking ready to tear him limb from limb.

'Rose is right, Ed,' I told him albeit reluctantly (I hated admitting Rosalie was right), 'We cannot let her live now she knows. If it would be easier, I could do it for you?' I offered, regretting it almost instantly for images of her pale neck invaded my head. I hated that I was so weak but at that moment, all I wanted - all I needed - was human blood and I felt so close to consuming hers.

'Do what?' my brother asked, snapping me out of my reverie.

'Dispose of her.' That was about as sensitive as I could get, given my state of mind. Looking back, Edward should have known what I meant without having to ask; it's not like I was doing a lot to hide my desperate, vivid thoughts from him. Hell I probably even had venom drooling from my mouth.

I felt Edward's emotions getting out of control but before he could slam me into a wall and rip my head off, or something of that nature, Carlisle intervened with what none of us, apart from Edward, wanted to hear.

'Nobody will be disposing of Miss Swan,' he stated, looking at myself and Rose more than Alice and Emmett, 'Edward said he's talked to her and I am satisfied that the matter is settled. No more, Jasper,' he added, his voice aberrantly stern when I opened my now dry mouth to protest.

I sighed, despite the lack of necessity to do so. Alice turned to look at me. My eyes must have darkened during my visions of sinking my teeth into the Swan girl's neck for I felt pity oozing out of my wife's every pore and I could see it in her beautifully gold eyes. If it had been anyone else I most certainly wouldn't have appreciated it one little bit but she understood me. She took my hand, which I now realised was shaking, and led me outside.

'Dinner time,' she winked and practically flew off into the forest. I smiled to myself and disappeared into the trees after her; I needed to hunt badly.

X-X-X

We ventured back to the house, taking our time. I liked it when it was just the two of us. I mean, I loved our family, obviously, but there was something special about being alone with my Alice, not doing anything in particular, just being us.

'What is going to happen with Edward and this girl?' I asked as casually as possible. She intertwined our fingers and rested her head on my shoulder - I was always surprised she could reach.

'I've seen lots of different things,' she sighed, 'I've seen him kill her, I've seen us leave, I've even seen them end up together and him changing her.'

'Into one of us?' I blurted out, the shock evident in my voice. I felt her nod. 'Do, um… Do you ever see me, er, you know?' I needed to know.

'No.' Her voice was strict yet reassuring. I gave her fingers a gentle squeeze by way of a thank you.

I didn't ask anymore. I couldn't bear to think about the human girl.

'You're getting a lot better, you know,' Alice told me soothingly. Jeez, I thought Edward was the mind reader. 'It's hard, I know, but I also know you won't her, Jaz,' she came out with matter-of-factly. I refrained from questioning her judgement; she probably knew me better than I knew myself and I trusted her completely.

I was snapped out of this train of thought by a sudden change in her feelings. She lifted her head off my shoulder for me to see the mischievous look in her eye. Now, Emmett and Rosalie may appear to be the more 'physical' couple in our family but the rest of us don't exactly have a whole lot to do at night either, considering we don't sleep. And who was I to deny my wife, leave her unseen to, when she looked at me the way she did?


	6. Chapter 6

I lay in bed with Alice, listening to breathing as I stared at the ceiling. "Are you going to tell me why you're so against me killing the Swan girl?"

I turned on my side to catch a smile escape Alice's lips; she walked her index and middle finger up my chest, tracing the scars as she went. "She's my friend, Jaz."

I raised an expectant eye brow as she sighed. "Okay, she's going to be, a really great friend."

I groaned, rolling so I was once again on my back. "So there's no way you're going to let me," she glared at me for a moment, "or Rose dispose of her."

She rested her tiny head on my shoulder, nudging the side of my neck with her cold nose. "No, there is no way on this Earth, Jasper Hale. I am going to love her someday. Edward is going to love her. You wouldn't do that to us would you, break our hearts I mean?"

I shook my head reluctantly.

"Good," she grinned, and I felt the relief was over her; despite the fact she could see the future, my Alice liked to have anything linked to any of us confirmed. I suddenly understood why the situation with Edward and, I sighed internally; I'd have to start using the girl's name now wouldn't I? The situation with Edward and Isabella was getting to her so much. Edward kept changing his mind. I could feel the rapid changes in his emotions constantly… it was quite disorientating.

I heard Edward groan from downstairs as I got out of bed.

"Jaz, leave him be."  
>For the first time in a long time I ignored my wife, opting instead to head downstairs, hoping that she would forgive me later when she realised what I wanted to do.<p>

***x***

Edward was resting against the stair case, avoiding eye contact with the entire family as he read, I scoffed as I saw the front cover; Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Really, Eddie?

He looked up guiltily but nodded as I mentally asked him to take a walk with me. It seemed he had calmed down from earlier.

We walked in the forest for a bit, ignoring the wildlife around us. Neither of us really wanted to hunt, for the both of us talking had become more important.

"She means a lot to you, doesn't she?" I whispered raising a warning hand as my younger brother went to object. "Don't try to object, Ed. Remember what my talent is?"

He sighed, kicking a fallen branch; it flew for miles, falling way beyond our sight. "I don't know, Jasper."

"I don't want you to leave."

His head snapped up. "How did you- Alice!"

I grinned sheepishly. "You're not going to leave again are you?"

He shook his head, looking at the full moon. "I guess not, ask Alice. I don't know."

"You'll do the right thing, Edward. You always do."

"Right for me or right for her?"

I rolled my eyes, nudging him playfully. "Race you back to the house!"

***x***

Despite the fact that Edward had won the race, I felt better having had the talk with him. It sometimes occurred to me that we didn't communicate with words often enough in our house, what with a mind-reader, fortune teller and emotion manipulator there wasn't much need. I still worried that sometimes we all kept our true emotions too bottled up, especially myself and Edward; we hid our emotions from everyone, well as much as either of us could. Between myself, Alice and Edward there was little room for secrets.

The rest of the family ignored our return, watching the local news in case there was any incriminating footage of Edward's reckless heroism. Thankfully, there was none, though we all held our breaths the whole way through the mundane programme, sighing as story after story of humans killing on another were read out. What a strange race.

"Can I go now?" Edward muttered, not making eye contact with anyone but Carlisle who sighed but nodded.

"Edward, make sure Bella remains ignorant until you've decided which future you want for her."

He growled as he brushed past a sneering Rosalie. Mutual loathing radiated off the pair of them. I closed my eyes, running my hands through my hair nonchalantly as I manipulated them both into a sense of calm.

"I hate you, Jasper," Rose hissed before grabbing Emmett's hand and dragging him upstairs.

I looked sheepishly at my family as I realised I had just subjected them to a loud night. I really needed to stop trying to manipulate Rosalie; it never ended well, for any of us.

Esme smiled comfortingly at me. "Don't worry, Jasper. She'll have forgotten all about it by the morning."

I nodded, walking over to the games table, noticing the unfinished game Alice and Edward had been playing last night. I laughed as I thought of all their disastrous matches; it was impossible not to when you recalled Alice leaving almost every game unfinished after exclaiming you could only play a game with Edward so many times before you got bored of his constant cheating. Edward always retorted that she cheated too.

For vampires who were both over one hundred years old they really behaved childishly over human games.

***X***

The journeys to school in the following days were sheer torture. Rosalie and Edward were still not talking; in fact, Rose was barely talking to anyone, with the exception of Emmett and Esme. It was beginning to make me feel drained, all of the negative emotions flying round the house, we had never argued this seriously before, even when one of us had a lapse and fed from a human. Although, that was worse, the pure disappointment in Carlisle's eyes was worse than the pain of turning.

We sat at our usual table every lunchtime, all of us doing our best not to look in Isabella's direction.

"Bella's going to stare at Edward in a minute. Look normal."

I hissed with annoyance before shifting my weight, fidgeting and acting as human as possible. I could not understand why Edward hadn't already turned her. Alice seemed so sure she would be one of us.

I felt Edward's subconscious joy as the Swan girl looked in our direction, he seemed pleased by how often she stared while the rest of us growled quietly.

Alice sighed suddenly drawing my attention.

"Stay out of it, Alice." Edward whispered. "It's not going to happen."

Alice started to pout, turning away from him disappointedly, looking wistfully at the girl when no one was noticing. She was clearly impatient to become her friend.

"It makes plenty of sense to me," Edward muttered, drawing a snort from Alice. I shrugged to the others, just as confused as they were.

I became suddenly aware of how on edge Edward was allowing himself to become over the situation. I had been noticing it building but paid little attention, sure it would stop after the rest of the family stopped beating him up over his mistake. He was in a perpetually bad mood all the time anyway so I had begun to disregard his mood swings. I realised that they were probably something I should take more seriously.

**XXX**

**A/N** Urm, Emily doesn't know I've uploaded this but here it is :D Meaning over to you, my dear gonk of a writing partner! To all our wonderful readers, please review, we've been waiting for reviews for a few days and I think I'm correct in saying we've had one. It makes our day if people review…okay other things help too but reviews are good, they are like candy…*runs away singing 'I want candy'*


	7. Chapter 7

While Isabella found the following month embarrassing, what with all the attention she was receiving after the accident, things were a little easier for us. People avoided us as per usual, though Edward did seem to be getting a few more curious glances. But no one watched him as much as Isabella, or rather no one watched him the same way she did. She was constantly staring at him, typically with her head cocked to one side, as though she were trying to figure him out and this hadn't slipped past his attention. Although, in all fairness to my brother, he was doing very well not to stare back, like we could all tell he wanted to. None of us glanced in her direction anymore; it was just easier that way and, slowly, I thought things might be getting back towards normal. However, like I said, I was beginning to realise his mood swings were something I should have been taking more seriously.

It was on a science trip that it came to mine and Alice's attention that Edward might be trying to take things further, or at least far enough to risk putting the family in danger again. Waiting for bus in the morning, the three of us were standing a good few feet from the girl but with our super-sensitive hearing it was practically impossible not to overhear her conversation with the Newton boy. She was telling him how she couldn't go to prom with him as she had planned to visit her mom in Jacksonville that weekend and she could not go another weekend because her ticket was non-refundable, all the while her eyes were fixed on an uncomfortable Edward.

Half way through our visit to the plant place, Alice and I realised what Edward was going to do before he did it. His emotions changed and Alice visualised his chosen action plan.

'No, don't Edward. You promised you'd leave her alone,' Alice begged, confirming my suspicions that he wanted to talk to her. I placed a warning hand on my brother's arm but he ignored the both of us and slipped past the few people in front to get to Bella Swan. So sometimes our super-sensitive hearing was a pain but other times, ones like this, it came in very handy and we heard pretty much every word of their conversation.

'What's in Jacksonville?' he asked her immediately, springing up at her side. It was only fair for her to look confused.

'How did you know about that?'

'I- You didn't answer my question,' he replied awkwardly.

'Well you don't answer any of mine,' she retorted, almost angrily, 'and you didn't even say hi to me.' I couldn't help but laugh.

'Hi.' Really, if she hadn't been a human whom Edward was almost certainly in love with, thereby putting the whole family in danger of exposure, this would have been very comical.

'Are you gonna tell me how you stopped the van?' Fair play to the girl, she did not want to give up.

'Yeah.' _CRAP! _Every inch of my body was alerted as my head snapped up but Alice placed a reassuring hand on mine.'I had an adrenaline rush. It's very common, you can google it,' I felt him snicker inwardly as he heard my thoughts. Now I was the one on edge.

'Floridians, that's what's in Jacksonville,' Isabella said, reluctantly, in answer to my brother's earlier question.

Neither of them had time to contribute anything else to that aspect of the conversation, however, as the girl chose this time to once again demonstrate her supreme skills of clumsiness by tripping over, leaving my brother to save her, again. It seemed my annoyance crept out in his voice.

'Can you at least watch where you walk?' he snapped putting his hands swiftly back in his pockets, trying desperately to ignore the hurt look on her face. 'Look, I'm sorry I'm being rude all the time, I just think it's the best way…' He was, thankfully, interrupted by some girl - I believed her name to be Jessica - wanting to talk to Isabella. Instead of returning Alice and myself though, he stalked off somewhere, probably to avoid our chastising and to sulk.

On the way out of the green houses, as if he couldn't possibly do anymore damage, Alice nudged me and I looked up to see Edward making his way hastily towards Isabella.

'Bella, we shouldn't be friends,' he stated. I held my breath. Was he doing the right thing by us all for once since meeting this girl?

'You really should have figured that out a little earlier. I mean, why didn't you just let the van crush me and save yourself all this regret?' She was clearly getting herself worked up. Understandably Eddie's mood swings were bewildering her.

'You think I regret saving you?' A look of disbelief flooded Edward's pale face. Alice and I were not far from them now; we didn't even need our improved hearing to listen to them.

'I know that you do,' she informed him, 'I just don't know why.'

'You don't know anything,' he replied, the disbelief turning to pain, which was when my wife chose to interject.

'Alice,' I growled softly, but not unkindly. However, like on so many occasions, she chose to pay no attention to me.

'Hi,' she smiled brightly, 'Um, will you be riding with us?' I stayed well back, Isabella's scent hitting me. I could sort of see Edward's fascination with her smell, she smelled… well… delicious.

'No, our bus is full!' Edward snapped before Isabella could speak for herself but this was probably for the best. He hit his fist, not too hard, against the bus door, causing the driver to open it and we all climbed in - Alice giving Bella a wide smile as she did so - leaving the girl looking perplexed.

The ride back to the school was quiet, with Edward not talking to us and us being unable to find the right thing to say to him. I thought it best if I drove home and so climbed into the driver's seat of his Volvo, Alice in the passenger seat next to me with Eddie in the back, staring out of the window in his own little world.

'You can't keep doing this, Ed. You said you'd leave her alone, for all our sakes,' I reminded him, looking in the rear-view mirror at him. His eyes snapped up to meet mine. 'Look, I don't want to start an argument but I mean it. And just be thankful it was us there today and not Rosalie,' I added. I felt him calm as he saw my point. 'You've got to keep away from her,' I told him, sighing deeply afterwards. I felt his pain, it was hard to stay away from the person you loved, for he did love her - I knew that now - and it was hurting him so much knowing he couldn't have her. I partly understood; I don't know how I'd cope without my Alice, she's my entire world, but there was less chance of me having to.

The next couple of days passed and we tried to keep tabs on Edward at all times, however, being in the other biology class, biology was the only time Edward was, effectively, alone with Isabella. While he assured us he tried to keep talking to her at a minimum, we never knew for sure what was said between them. All we did know was Edward would always emerge from the class happy and smiling but he routinely refused to say anything about it. This worried me, more than I was letting on to anyone, Alice included. If anyone out of the seven of us was going to lose control around Isabella Swan it was more than likely to be me, hence the situation was worrying me immensely. I didn't want to be the one to break, to lose control, to risk exposing our true nature causing us to move again prematurely. I didn't want to be the one to kill her and ruin the lives we'd built for ourselves here. I didn't want to be the one to break Edward's frozen heart. Yes, I had the unending support of not just Alice and Carlisle but the whole family, however, the situation was straining me to breaking point. He'd come home with a trace of her scent on him and it would drive me to distraction. So much so, that I took to spending more time than ever either in mine and Alice's room or wandering the woods, hunting more than usual whilst there.

**A/N… (Emily) **I'm not entirely happy with this chapter but here it is anyway. I'll stress, as the both of us do every time we upload, that reviews are always welcome, as is constructive criticism, emphasis on the constructive. Anyway, please read, enjoy and review… The more reviews we get, the quicker we'll upload. Thank you!


	8. Chapter 8

It was a week or so after the science trip that Edward has his first major lapse when it came to spending time with Isabella.

He came back to the car to find us standing round it, waiting expectantly as he rocked back and forth, completely immersed in his mirth. I could feel the amusement radiating from him along with a very different feeling all together,; something rather too close to love in my opinion. That feeling along with Edward's current state told me all I needed to know about where he had been. Rather, whom he had been with.

I exchanged a look with Emmett who shrugged, clearly even more confused than I was as Edward shook his head, shaking with fresh laughter as an engine revved behind us. I turned and sighed as my suspicions were confirmed. Isabella was sat in her beat-up old Chevy, glaring angrily in my brother's direction.

"Let's go!" Rosalie hissed angrily, unconsciously mirroring the girl's expression as she impatient glared at Edward. "Stop being an idiot. If you _can_."

Edward didn't seem to hear her, too lost in his own special bubble of hilarity. Even so, he did as she asked, still laughing as he climbed into the driver's seat of his shiny Volvo.

None of us spoke on the way home, still curious, well apart from Alice who was clearly not telling, as to what Edward had found quite so funny. Clearly, it was something to do with Isabella, but what exactly none of us was quite sure. He continued to laugh every now and then, looking at me guiltily in the mirror occasionally as I sighed, watching as the speedometer rapidly drifted past the one hundred mark as we entered the driveway where there were no witnesses to his supernatural speeding tendencies.

"So do I get to talk to Bella now?" Alice asked suddenly, catching all of us, Edward included it seemed off guard. I felt his good mood departing rapidly.

"No," he snapped, earning himself a low growl from me.

"No fair! What am I waiting for?"

"I haven't decided anything, Alice."

"Whatever, Edward."

I sighed, shaking my head at Emmett as he hit my shoulders. I was not up for a fight, besides he would just be in a bad mood when I beat him, again.

"What's the point in getting to know her?" Edward mumbled quietly, self-pity filling each of his following words. "If I'm just going to kill her?"

There was a second's hesitation from Alice. "You have a point," she admitted quietly.

The final hairpin turn before the house was taken at an entirely reckless speed, knocking the three of us in the back against one another and the windows, eliciting an irritated hiss from Rosalie.

"Enjoy your run," she said smugly as he flung himself from the car, speeding off in the opposite direction from the house as we stared.

*x*

Edward did not come home that night and it became obvious to all of us that he had not gone for a simple run. Alice tapped my shoulder at around one in the morning, looking at me intently as she whispered a single word that I immediately understood. "Her."

Edward had gone to see her. In the middle of the night. That simple fact alone did not bode well but Alice stroked my arm reassuringly, sensing my train of thought the way only she could. Well, maybe with the exception of Edward but that was rather different, seeing as there was no way he couldn't know what you were thinking.

When we arrived at school the following morning Edward had still not returned home, for reasons neither I nor anyone but Alice could really understand. Maybe Edward really was falling for the girl. If he was it was really only a matter of time before he turned her and sorted out all of our problems. If she knew the secret, if she was the secret there would be no reason to suspect anything. Really it was a better idea than simply killing her, even if the thought of draining her blood still appealed to me more than it should have to any committed vegetarian vampire.

We were headed to class when I heard his voice and another all too familiar one. He was having a conversation with her. Had the idea of leaving her alone really flown that far out of the window in little over a week?

I did not turn, not wanting to anger myself any further; anger mixed with my present thirst would not have made a good mix when surrounded by such delicious smelling humans.

A few hours later and I walked with Alice down the school hall way, swallowing pints of venom as I had been all day.

"Edward is going to sit with Bella at lunch today."

I turned my head quickly. "What?"

"He's making progress."

"On what?" I snapped ignoring the startled looks of the surrounding humans as I accidentally showed my teeth. It was rather a more aggressive display than I usually allowed.

"Acknowledging his feelings for her. I should be allowed to talk to her soon," she beamed dragging me into the lunch hall by the hand as we followed behind Rose.

Whilst Rose took to brutally ignoring Edward sending blistering hatred in his direction, instead I simply half smiled at him, wishing him luck even if I could not keep the doubt I felt from wrapping around my thoughts.

"Keep out of it," Edward said under his breath as Alice passed, I sighed, realising my dear wife was still pushing to be allowed to form the friendship she so craved. That was the only problem with Alice's gift. If she saw something, however far in the future it might be she wanted it there and then. That was her only vice.

I took my usual seat, laughing quietly to myself as I noticed Edward motion to Bella with his index finger, winking for good measure when she stood still as a statue, clearly dumbfounded by his sudden change in attitude. I had never known Edward wink at anyone, especially a fair woman, clearly the child was trying to tease her and from Isabella's facial expression, it was working.

I smothered a chuckle as she tripped twice on her way towards him; the poor girl really was delicate and clumsy. That was not going to be helpful if Edward had truly decided to allow his feelings for her to come out.

"Why don't you sit with me today?"

She pulled a chair out from the table silently, watching him the entire time as she fell onto it. "This is different."

"Well…" He hesitated, smirking to himself as he formulated an answer. "I decided as long as I was going to Hell, I might as well do it thoroughly."

"You know I don't have any idea what you mean," the girl said, clearly confused as she fiddled with her can of Coke.

"I know," Edward smiled, looking over her shoulder at the group of humans she usual sat with, a cheerful expression on his face as he read their thoughts. Instead, I felt their emotions; white hot jealousy burned from the table, both from the males and females to my surprise. Was Isabella really that wanted? A shiny new toy I supposed, after all, she was not that pretty but maybe that was simply my standard, after a century of judging beauty based on the vampire scale I had almost forgotten what a beautiful human was.

During my musings I had stopped listening into their conversation, glancing over towards my siblings I noticed they were still listening intently, even if they were pretending to look out the window wistfully as the rain poured as usual.

"So in plain English, are we friends now?"

"Friends," Edward pondered, waiting too long before answering as Isabella's emotions switched from hopeful to rejected.

"Or not," she mumbled. I saw Edward shift his weight in his seat, careful to keep up the pretence despite his current jumbled state.

He smiled crookedly, careful not to show any teeth and scare her. "Well, we can try, I suppose. But I'm warning you now, that I'm not a good friend for you."

Even from my distance I could hear her heart start to beat faster, joy bursting from her every pore even as she tried to keep it contained. "You say that a lot."

"Yes, because you are not listening to me," he paused as he realised he had allowed his carefully contained natural intensity to return to his voice. "I'm still waiting for you to believe it. If you're smart, you'll avoid me."

The human folded her arms, clearly insulted by something he had said. "I think you've made your opinion on the subject of my intellect clear, too."

Edward smiled apologetically, somewhat confused by her quiet outburst.

"So," she said slowly, watching him warily as her fingers danced along the top of the Coke can. "As long as I'm being…not smart, we'll try to be friends?"

"That sounds about right."

Beside me, Alice giggled victoriously.

**XXX**

**A/N** Yeah, I got this written so that Emily would have something to write, she is being so fast with her updates recently that I can't keep up! I hope you liked that and you will review, each time you click that review button and leave us some comments or constructive criticism a Jasper is delivered to you…okay, maybe not but we try ;)


	9. Chapter 9

The rest of lunch consisted of Alice looking longingly at the Edward and Bella, desperate to join in - for some odd reason, she really could not wait to be this girl's friend - and Edward coaxing her theories about us, or him, out of her. They were laughable, really they were. I know we seemed odd to the rest of the human population but Spiderman? She couldn't be serious.

However, my finding the situation amusing was to be short lived when Edward started skating over thin ice once more. I was beginning to wonder if he ever knew when to stop.

'What if I'm not a superhero? What if I'm the bad guy?' It wasn't just my head that whirled around at a faster-than-human speed. Had I been human, in fact, I probably would've given myself whiplash.

'I see,' she mumbled slowly.

'Do you?' Edward asked, trying his hardest to conceal the agony building up inside him.

'You're dangerous?' she guessed. _Please, Edward, stop. _'But not bad,' she continued, 'No, I don't believe that you're bad.'

If only she knew. I felt Rosalie becoming tense and, for once, Emmett wasn't doing anything to distract her or calm her down. I looked to Alice but she was concentrating so hard on their conversation that she was unreachable. Edward's emotions were suddenly a wreck, he felt love, pain, longing, thirst and anger all at once. I needed Alice to talk to me, to reassure me he wasn't going to do anything but she wouldn't. Then, all of a sudden, of all the people who could've defused the situation, Isabella did.

'We're going to be late for class,' she realised, standing up and swinging her bag over her shoulder.

'Oh I'm not going to class today,' Edward said, his voice resuming a normal tone. They were blood typing in biology today; Alice and I had already skipped our morning class. Alice had taken full advantage of this time to drag me down to Port Angeles at a very inhumane speed to go clothes shopping.

Isabella decided, responsibly, that she was going to class with or without Edward and left, catching up with Mike Newton. Although Edward did not do anything more than watch as she left, the rays of jealousy emanating from him hit me like a brick to the head. He was so protective over her, reminding me a little bit of my own protective feelings for my wife, the difference being my wife was most certainly not human and could undoubtedly look after herself.

X-X-X

Emmett and Rose headed off to math but Alice and I had a free period for the first part of the afternoon and left the cafeteria for the general direction of the school gates.

'Where do you want to go?' I asked 'Home? There's no one there,' I added, trying to keep any hint of suggestion out of my voice.

'Port Angeles?' she asked, her brightest, most irresistible smile adorning her face.

'Alice!' I groaned, 'We went there this morning.' While it is in my nature to give my wife everything she wanted, I can't admit to being a huge fan of shopping, it bores me.

'But I saw this really nice pair of heels, Jazz,' she whined.

'You have hundreds of heels, what do you want another pair for?' I enquired, not that I really needed to.

'But please?' she begged. Damn her, she knew I wouldn't refuse if she begged. Not fair.

'You know you can make loving you so difficult sometimes, right?' She smiled victoriously, knowing I'd given in. I was lying of course, loving her was by no means difficult, it was so easy because she was so right for me. I rolled my eyes at her, showing her just how much I did not want to go, but started in the direction of Port Angeles, grabbing her hand and flitting too fast for any human eyes to notice.

Despite making a beeline for the desired heels, Alice insisted we went around the shops for at least half an hour before leaving. While being in a school full of mouth-wateringly-smelling humans daily was torture, this was torture on another level, and she knew it. Finally, and not before time, she decided she'd seen enough and we could go home. We didn't talk on the way back but it wasn't an awkward silence, we often spent time just sitting or walking in silence together; that was just us. I glanced over at her a few times and once thought she was having a vision but she shook her head and blinked when she realised I was staring. She smiled at me but said nothing. I knew she'd tell me in her own time if she wanted to.

X-X-X

My last lesson of the day was history so I perked up a little bit, knowing before I'd gotten it back that I'd had full marks in the last essay on the Civil War. This perkiness evaporated quickly, though, on getting in the car. Emmett did not notice the smell at first.

'I'll bet Mrs Goff thinks you're on drugs, you've been so erratic lately. Where were you today?'

'I was.. doing good deeds.' He began to chuckle. 'Caring for the sick, that kind of thing.' Well I'm glad someone found it amusing. This confused Emmett but then the scent finally hit him.

'Oh,' he realised, 'the girl? Hmm, she does have quite a flavour doesn't she?'

Edward's responding snarl escaped his lips before he could do anything to stop himself.

'Easy kid, I'm just saying.' Emmett held up his hands, trying to calm him down.

Rosalie just glowered at Edward but I couldn't help my reaction. Hovering in the door of the back seat, her scent had driven me into some kind of trance. It was so sweet and I was suddenly so thirsty. My lips pulled back over my teeth and my mouth had formed a snarl, venom pooling around it, almost dripping. I still had poor control and Edward hated it almost as much as I did. My eyes flitted to him to see his own shooting daggers in my direction, looking ready to pounce at me. I jumped when I felt a hand on my shoulder and another reach around my waist to my torso; it was only Alice. She touched my cheek and smiled at me warily, knowing the pain I was going through. She placed a small kiss on my lips, immediately soothing my tension. I heaved a sigh and got in the car, gripping on to what last tiny bit of control I had,

Alice skipped to Edward's side of the car and held out her hand, into which he dropped a car key: Isabella's car key. Why would Alice need her car key? If you could call the heap on wheels a car anyway…

'I only saw that I was,' she explained obscurely. 'You'll have to tell me the whys later.' My little pixie drove Isabella's car to her house, us following her all the way. Edward looked longingly at what I presumed was the girl's bedroom window but she didn't appear, nor, thankfully, did she emerge from the front door. Alice entered our car and sat in the back, between myself and Rosalie and we sped home, well over the speed limit, Edward and Alice obviously listening/looking out for cops.

Once home, we went to our various past times, well, everyone apart from Emmett and myself. He'd had the bright idea of joining eight chess boards along the back glass wall, made up a rather complicated set of rules and used them to play a most elaborate game of chess.

'Em, you can't move there,' I told him when he moved his queen in front of my king.

'What? Yes I can!' he shouted indignantly. I shook my head, allowed him to cheat, again, and set up the boards for another game. At least this was distracting me from my fantasies about the girl. Obviously, they were rather to Edward's fantasies about her; all I wanted to do was rip her head off and drain her life's blood, which could be viewed as slightly more innocent than what Edward clearly wanted.

I was still annoyed at Edward for his earlier activities and profusely refused to let him join in with Emmett and myself. Emmett raised his eyebrows, indicating I was being childish but I didn't care, I didn't want out brother in my sights right now. He took the not-so-subtle hint and stalked off, but not to join in with anything any of my other siblings were doing. Alice was working on some fashion project for Rosalie's wardrobe while Rosalie herself was sprawled across the sofa flicking through the many hundred channels on the flat screen.

I heard Edward run his hand up and down the piano, practicing some scales. To make the game more interesting, Alice leaned her head around the corner - Emmett could not see her - and began mouthing his next moves to me. Grinning momentarily but then neutralising my expression, I cut off his favourite knight. My joy at being the one to get away with cheating for once was paused when the whole house stopped. Edward was composing again. I felt happiness radiating from Esme upstairs but it was overpowered by rage seething from Rosalie who was now sat up and glaring at Edward, her eyes sparkling with chagrined fury.

Emmett and I turned to stare at Edward too but he'd stopped, and was laughing at Rosalie's reaction - never a wise idea. Esme was downstairs in a flash and put herself between them.

'Don't stop,' she encouraged him. Edward continued with his melody but Rosalie sprang to her feet and raced from the room, directing some angry thought at Edward as she left, causing him to smirk again.

'What's wrong, Rose?' Emmett called after her but she ignored him. If that had been Alice I'd have been after her like a bullet, but Emmett and Rose's relationship was different so he remained sat at our game.

With the house now composed again, I turned back to the chess boards and continued the game. Alice left me to it and went to sit by Edward, picking up his melody and singing along. I found this to be rather distracting. My wife had the singing voice of an angel and Emmett took full advantage of my distracted state to win the game, no doubt by cheating again.

I gave up and joined my brother, mother and wife at the piano, aware they had been having some deep, conversation via their thoughts.

'Oh jasper!' Alice exclaimed abruptly. She'd seen something.

'What, Alice?' I asked, slipping my arm around her tiny shoulders.

'Peter and Charlotte are coming to visit next week!' she squealed evidently excited. Edward on the other hand looked worried. My brother, of sorts, and the little vampire he loved, were not like us - they hunted in what was considered the normal way - and I could feel Edward's concern for Bella's safety. He met my eyes for a split second then shouted for Emmett. He wanted to leave for their hunting trip there and then and so, after saying goodbye to Rose, Emmett set off with Edward. They were not supposed to be back until midnight on Sunday, leaving the house slightly emptier than usual.

**A/N… Narnianofcairparavel has no idea I've already written this chapter, let alone uploaded it… oopsie… Anyway, hope you enjoy reading my chapters as much as she seems to. Please review? I'll send skittles in the post? Well, in theory anyway…**


	10. Chapter 10

I sat on a fallen tree, watching as Peter sniffed the air with a disdainful expression. "It smells awful," he muttered, smiling widely at me before sitting. "Deer?"

I nodded slowly, smiling as he indicated the difference between our eye colours with a curious expression. "We've been over this before, Pete."

"I still don't understand it, how can you be around humans every day. You don't ever want to just," he motioned the biting of necks. "I just can't imagine living that way."

"I'd do anything for Alice. If this is what she wants me to do, then this is how I will live. Besides, red eyes never really suited me."

He laughed despite his remaining confusion. "How is the wonderful Alice?"

They had only seen each other briefly before Alice encouraged me to take Peter for a walk while she and Charlotte shopped. "She's Alice. Brilliant and impatient."

"What has she seen this time?"

"She's waiting to become friends with Edward's Isabella."

Peter raised an eyebrow. "Edward's found someone, a girl?"

I nodded, laughing as I noticed the way he said girl.

"I was certain he liked men. I mean, he was offered Rosalie. If I hadn't met Lottie first I would not have turned her down."

I gave him a friendly warning growl as the lust he was began to flood my thoughts. "You are both happily spoken for, Pete. Besides, she's my sister."

He rolled his eyes with only half-faked disappointment. "Really though, Edward has a girlfriend?"

I sighed; not having to think of the Swan girl for a few hours had been nice. "Not exactly. That's part of the problem; little Edward has fallen in love with a human."

"What?" Peter demanded, looking at me with disgust as if the whole thing was my fault. "He means to turn her though, right?"

I shook my head. "When Alice saw that future for her he went crazy. I think the idiot has started to watch her sleep..." Alice had shared her visions of Edward standing over a sleeping Isabella with me when I asked where he was, and why he had taken an oil can if he was off hunting.

"He can't be serious? He doesn't think she won't notice he has not aged a day in the time that they are together. That is if he doesn't kill her first. I hear human/vampire... Romance can be very..." he clicked his tongue as he searched for the right words. "Dangerous to the point of fatalities occurring."

I looked at him with poorly concealed disgust. "I don't think Edward has even considered that side of a relationship with her, Peter."

*x*

The next night we went out for a game of football at Rainier field at Emmett's request. As was becoming all too common an occurrence, at least in my opinion, Edward was absent, busy watching Isabella despite Emmett's pleas for him to join us.

Even so, the teams were even and the match was over all too soon for Emmett, having been beaten ten-nil. He moaned the whole way home for a rematch, a request that was, of course, ignored despite his annoying grumbling for the rest of the night and most of the morning.

Edward marched unceremoniously through the door, ignoring all of us except for Esme and Emmett who welcomed him home. He simply nodded at them before seating himself at the piano, something he was beginning to do increasingly often.

I ignored him, and the song he was playing. Rolling my eyes despite the fact my back was to him as I bid Peter and Charlotte goodbye, ignoring the curious looks they were sending my brother's way as he slammed out a tune with a remarkably familiar theme to it; impatience. An emotion radiating from his every pore as the song was played more and more stormily.

I allowed Charlotte to hug me, flinching as her long, white-blond hair tickled my nose. She was the size of Alice, though obviously not so talented or beautiful in my opinion. Even so she was a nice person despite her taste for human flesh. She was part of the reason I had managed to break away from Maria, not that she would ever know. She would never know how much I wanted to thank her.

I shook Peter's hand, a thought suddenly occurring to me. "If you see Maria," I began warily, "tell her I wish her well."

Peter smiled. "I don't imagine that will happen soon," he said with a laugh. "But should it happen, I certainly will."

Edward's song trailed off to an end I immediately noticed he was not happy with. He stood up quickly, even for him, getting hastily to his feet ready to run off to see Bella. "Charlotte, Peter," he nodded.

"It was nice to see you again, Edward," Charlotte smiled doubtfully, turning to Peter who simply nodded in return.

***x***

I sat alone in the room I shared with Alice, trying not to decide on what I wanted to buy her for our approaching anniversary. I knew she would see whatever I brought her in advance but wanted to keep it secret for as long as possible. So long as the only decision was clothes or, better yet, shoes it was safe.

I had left her downstairs moping and complaining that her visions always came too late. If 'Bella' wasn't safe it would be all her fault for not having warned Edward in advance. I had to control an urge to vomit; she said things like that all the time, as if Edward was the girl's guardian angel. I tried not to snap at my wife, instead leaving her to her thoughts.

I tried to ignore the conversation I was hearing, to pretend that I had not heard Alice remark on Isabella's good reaction. She could have been talking about anything, her words did not mean Edward had turned into a first rate idiot, the biggest in the world and told Bella what he was. Even Edward would not allow himself to be that stupid. I breathed in through my nose, before sighing as I let the breath out. Who was I kidding? Of course the foolish child had told her, that was why his feelings of relief and love were assaulting me even from this distance. He had told her what he was, what we were, had blown away years of secrecy over a girl, a human girl and he could not have been more tickled pink about it. Why? Because she had accepted him of course.

I growled, knowing full well that he could hear me. I smirked vindictively to myself. I could not wait to see Rosalie's reaction.

**XXX**

**A/N** Yeah, it's a bit short and not very good in places but I kind of like the ending. Please R&R or Jasper will cry, so what if vampires can't cry, Jasper will and if Jasper cries Emily cries and makes me cry…do you want us all in a mangled heap crying and not updating this story?


	11. Chapter 11

Alice was sat on the porch out the front when The Idiot arrived home. I heard her tell him Carlisle was in his study but after that the conversation became one-sided, Edward obviously answering Alice's thoughts. Rose and Emmett had gone out somewhere and so did not know yet what had happened, what he'd done but they arrived back not long after Edward himself. He was talking with Carlisle when they came home and though they were talking quietly we could hear pretty much every word.

'What's going on?' Rose asked. Nobody answered her, all dreading her reaction. I'm not normally a vindictive person but something in me snapped and I just couldn't help myself. I raced downstairs faster than lightning.

'Isabella knows what we are. Edward told her.'

'He didn't tell her, Jazz.' Alice looked at me, disappointment tainting her beautiful eyes and I immediately felt ashamed of myself. 'She guessed, he just admitted she was right.' I hung my head; I couldn't look at her.

'The human knows?' Rosalie hissed.

'Rose, calm down,' Esme begged, entering the room having heard my explanation. 'And don't you dare go up there!' she added as Rosalie spun on her heel, clearly headed for Carlisle's office with the intention of killing our dear brother for good. She stamped her foot as she turned back around like your typical spoilt child out of a teen movie. Carlisle emerged from upstairs, Edward following him with his head down as low as he could get it, ignoring us all. Our father nodded at his wife and left the house. We heard his car roar to life and drive off; Edward had gone with him god knows where.

'Come on, Jazz,' Alice held out her hand for me to take. I took it and we walked at human pace into the woods.

'Up here?' I asked, indicating to the tree next to me. She nodded, attempting to smile. She didn't need to but she jumped daintily on my back and let me carry her up the tree, all the way to the top where we made ourselves comfortable, or as comfortable as you can on the very top of a rather tall tree.

'Carlisle and Edward have gone to deal with the rapist that tried to attack Bella,' she told me matter-of-factly.

'Deal with?' I raised an eyebrow knowing full well my brother's way of 'dealing' with people like that. Rapists were the kind of people he fed off when he rebelled against Carlisle; rapists, murderers and the like. While my family had tried to convince him, when he returned and finally told them what he'd done, that he'd probably saved more lives than he took - they were all monsters - he still hated himself for taking human lives. But, like myself, Emmett and probably Carlisle, he would do anything to protect the one he loved so I could just imagine what he'd do to this man.

'He won't kill him,' my wife insisted, 'trust me.'

'Always,' I murmured, letting her nuzzle at my neck.

'It'll all be okay, you know,' she assured me. 'Eventually,' she added as an after thought when she saw the sceptical look I was giving her. I sighed, allowing her to return to my neck. It didn't take long for me to relax and I began to kiss her back.

'Jazz,' she giggled, 'We're in the top of a tree!'

'And?' I shrugged, winking at her. However, she chose that moment to put her hand against my lips.

'Edward and Carlisle are back,' she whispered, biting her lip. She positioned herself comfortably on my back again and I jumped down from the tree, managing expertly to avoid all the branches that would ruffle my wife's perfect hair.

'What the hell have you done Edward? This is the end here, for all of us, you do know that right?!' Rosalie screeched hysterically, her arms alternating between whirling in the air and resting on her hips.

'Rosalie, leave him be,' Carlisle warned her quietly.

'Leave him be?' she spat, her voice now disturbingly quiet.

'Yes. Leave him be.' Carlisle's voice was stern, mirroring his facial expression. Edward walked off quietly, presumably to watch Isabella sleep again, leaving Rosalie fuming, her nostril's flaring. I half expected her to chase after him like a bull to a red cloth but she stormed off, dragging a very submissive Emmett with her. We were in for a loud night.

X-X-X

Edward returned with less than an hour before we left for school.

'Alice, do you mind-' My wife cut him off.

'Rosalie will drive. She'll act pissed but you know she'll enjoy the excuse to show off her car.' _Great._ Rosalie was going to drive us all to school while Edward went to pick up Isabella. Rosalie who was still in a very bad mood. Nobody said anything for the whole drive to school and the silence was more than awkward. It was, as they say, deafening. Alice held my hand across the middle back seat, her head tilted to the side and her eyes closed. She was, it appeared, sulking over the fact the she was still not allowed to become Isabella's best friend.

The way Edward followed the girl around that day was like a puppy after it's beloved owner, it was almost sickening. I was sure I'd never acted like that with Alice, nor had Em with Rosalie. He raced from his classes to meet her and walk her to hers. This did not escape the attention of Isabella's friends and they were clearly both jealous and astounded that Isabella had attracted someone like Edward. I could feel the jealousy radiating from Jessica in particular, in fact, I was quite surprised she hadn't turned green.

My morning lessons were as mundane as ever with the exception of biology where my wife decided to see how far she could push me, or how long I could go without reacting, by running her foot up my leg. For a woman decades older than she looked she couldn't half be immature, as I told her right after the lesson had ended. She saw it coming obviously and had used the advantage to come up with the response of 'You wouldn't love me any other way'. She was right, of course, and I placed a kiss on her cheek before heading to history.

Alice finished in gym class early - I was the only member of the family bright enough not to pick games as a subject - and waited for me outside history, still clearly amused by Emmett's apparent irate feeling towards gym class.

'I did tell him he shouldn't have taken it. He only has to hold back all the time which is not in his nature,' I said, also amused as I took her hand, swinging it back and forth.

'Now who's being immature?' she asked, grinning from ear to ear.

'So bite me?' I suggested, laughing at the irony of my sentence. As vampires, it was one of our favourite phrases to wind each other up with.

I was in such a good mood by the time we reached the canteen that I even managed to laugh as Isabella had somehow gotten Edward to eat human food. I felt the disgust he felt as he knew he'd have to choke it back up later. Emmett found the ordeal hilarious and even Rosalie could stop a smile spread over her face. His eating food was only made funnier by Isabella's reaction; her expression was shocked; impressed even. Edward compared it to her eating dirt, she could do it but it wouldn't be very nice, to say the least.

Their conversation became less interesting after the eating incident and so I turned to talk to Alice while Emmett and Rosalie snuggled up in a way that was probably too intimate for polite company.

'Want to go hunting this weekend?' I asked Alice.

'I'd rather go shopping,' she suggested, all wide-eyed and innocent.

'Oh Al!' I groaned. Not shopping again, please no.

'Fine, I'll hunt with you Saturday then you shop with me Sunday?' Normally I was all up for compromise but I didn't like this one. Despite my dislike for it I found myself giving in to her; when didn't I?

'Easy Rose,' Emmett suddenly whispered, placing his arm around his wife's shoulders, holding her tightly to his side. _What?_ I saw Edward looking over his shoulder at us, or at Rose. I think she'd shrieked some scathing comment at him in her head.

'Selfish jackass,' she muttered, not quietly enough for a couple of humans on the table closest to us looked around but quickly turned back to their food when they caught sight of the murderous glare on my sister's face. Rosalie was getting wound up about how much Edward's human knew about us and, to be honest, I really couldn't blame her. This should not be happening. Edward really shouldn't be fraternising with a human at all, let alone telling her all our secrets like there was no tomorrow.

I turned back to Alice but she was no longer with me, mentally anyway. It was apparent that she was having some sort of mental conversation with Edward, mainly one-sided. I sighed and faced my still full plate of food that I had absolutely no intention of eating, seriously debating offering Rosalie help if she decided to later destroy Edward's pride and joy: his Aston Martin.

As if I wasn't annoyed enough, when it came to the end of the day, I found my way to Rosalie's ride blocked by a group of lustful boys and, for once, it was not Rosalie they were lusting over, it was her car. This was exactly why it was better for Rosalie to only use her car outside of town. While her red M3 was beautiful, it was too ostentatious for a small town such ad Forks, especially when we were trying to keep a low profile. I almost growled, pushing my way through the crowd and managed to clamber in the back seat next to Alice seconds before Rosalie put her foot too hard on the gas (on purpose) and reversed out of the car lot, nearly running over the swarm of boys ogling the BMW.

**A/N… **I know we ask in every chapter we post for reviews, but really we love them and they're very helpful. If you like the story, tell us why and likewise if you don't, but please be polite about it. Anyway, it's back to Kim to write; I'm sure she'll be pleased. No dear readers, of course I'm not being sarcastic. Whatever gave you that idea? ;)


	12. Chapter 12

School was swiftly becoming my personal definition of torture and as an added source of discomfort, due to Edward's growing stupidity; I was beginning to become kindred spirits with Rose. I hated that I was finding myself empathizing with her wishes, especially since Alice wanted me to like Isabella. I felt like such a traitor to my wife.

"_Papio Anubis_," I answered without looking up, still trying to listen to the conversation that was taking place in the classroom next door.

"That is correct Mr. Hale, but would you please give me your undivided attention in future?"

"Of course," I lied smoothly, standing as the lunch bell rang. As always, Alice was waiting for me, taking my arm and stretching up to peck my cheek.

"Eddie won't be eating with us today," she chirped, half skipping as she dragged me towards the canteen.

"He's sitting with Bella again," I guessed, sighing as she nodded her head in confirmation. Edward's latest hobby when it came to the girl was asking her questions about herself. So far he had begun to fashion an idea of her taste in music, films and, of course, being Edward, her taste in books. Fortunately, for her, he approved of her taste.

"Be happy for him, she's his first love. Remember what it was like when we first met?"

"Yeah, I was terrified," I grinned toothlessly, earning dreamy sighs from the human girls present. I fought the urge to roll my eyes and flash my teeth at them as Alice nudged my elbow, directing me into the canteen.

"Oh hush you!"

I ignored my brother as we passed his table, grimacing despite my best effort to stay neutral.

"Tell me."

"It's the color of your eyes today," the girl sighed, fiddling with her hair. "I suppose if you asked me in two weeks I'd say onyx."

I gagged quietly, what a girlish thing to say. Alice laughed, forcing me down into my usual seat and quietly offering to buy my lunch. I nodded nonchalantly as possible.

"What kind of flowers do you prefer?"

I groaned, sharing a look of despair with Rosalie who then turned to Emmett.

"What are my favourite flowers, Em?" She asked sweetly despite the threatening edge in her tone.

"Roses?" He guessed, looking hopefully in her direction.

"Sorry, man," I whispered as Rose stood up, growling at her husband loud enough for nearby humans to look our way curiously as she stalked towards Alice.

"What did I say?"

"Emmett, the fact that she is called Rosalie doesn't make her favourite flowers roses."

"What are they?" I didn't need my wife's ability to know that he was planning a trip to the florist in the near future.

"Lily of the Valley," I answered. "Alice's is purple lilac and Esme's fond of Orchids."

"How do you know that?" Emmett demanded, shooting me a curious glare.

"I actually pay attention when they talk about that kind of thing, Emmett."

He nodded, looking up as the girls returned with food covered trays. Rose slammed hers down with more force than necessary, taking Alice's usual place next to me and ignoring her husband who smiled guiltily towards Alice.

"You know I'll be expecting flowers now, don't you?" Alice grinned, turning her attention from Edward's conversation long enough to see the smile I returned.

***x***

Alice stroked the side of my face, trailing her dainty fingers along each individual scar that lined my skin.

"I wish you wouldn't do that so often, Al."

She sighed, kissing my cheek and rolling away from me. "Ed's planning on taking Bella to the woods this weekend."

I sat up, trying my best to look interested. Though I could never admit this to her, I longed for the now long gone days when Alice and I would discuss our own feelings and our own relationship rather than become so involved in our younger brother's fledgling romance. I used to hate the discussing my feelings and what I wanted for the future (not that we had many options).

"Alice, it's meant to be sunny this weekend."

"I know. Edward knows."

"So he's just planning on going out in the sun where anyone can see him? Is nothing secret anymore?" I demanded, throwing a pillow from the bed, accidentally catching the side of Alice's face. "Sorry, darling."

She waved a dismissive hand, biting back a smile as I huffed, folding my arms childishly. "Jaz, it's not like he's going to be in the middle of Seattle. They're just going for a walk, or rather a hike, in the woods."

I grumbled something about it not making much difference and was quickly shut up by Alice pressing her lips against my own.

"Stop it," she murmured, before looking out at the setting sun. "Just be happy for him and grateful that we don't have to watch him moping around the house anymore."

I nodded slowly, standing up and walking to the window. Edward was just coming down the driveway as I looked out, freshening up before watching Bella sleep seemed to be the new order of the day. I wanted to mock him for it but Alice was right. Since the secret had come out, Edward had been an entirely different person. He smiled; he laughed and actually spoke to people outside of our adopted family. It was as though he was an entirely different person to the man he had been only a few months before.

I longed to hate him for revealing the secret as Rosalie did but I could not bring myself to do so anymore. I no longer felt that pure, burning hatred I had, it had been all but extinguished, instead replaced by a simmering uneasiness whenever Edward sat with Isabella. I was afraid someone would overhear their conversation and lead to us having to leave, again. However, this time it seemed if that happened we would be taking an extra person with us. Everyone in the family, besides Rosalie and maybe myself to an extent, was expecting Bella to become part of the family soon.

With the way Edward was currently acting around his new human, the thought was no longer seeming all that ridiculous…

**XXX**

**AN: PLEASE FORGIVE ME FOR TAKING SO LONG TO WRITE SOMETHING! IF NOT REVIEW ANY WAY AND TELL ME HOW MUCH I SUCK FOR MAKING YOU GUYS WAIT SO LONG…SORRY X**


End file.
